i have been covering the issues around the 'serious organised crime and police act' for some time. what i saw on sunday afternoon sickened me.
is this a demo?
is this a legitimate response?
two peaceful activists challenged the serious organised crime and police act outside downing street on a quiet sunday afternoon at around 5pm. section 132 of the act, thought to have been drafted in order to rid parliament square of the five-year peace vigil by brian haw, bans demonstrations within 1 km of parliament unless given prior authorisation by the police. steve jago, a management accountant, and barbara tucker, a care worker and mother, stood outside the gates of downing street with banners. but it is unclear whether this was a demonstration as meant by the act.
barbara's banner simply stated "peace, justice, love for all", while steve's was a plain white banner containing a quote from the magna carta - "to no-one will we sell, to no-one will we refuse or delay justice or right", and aristotle's "the only stable state is the one in which all men are equal before the law".
it was enough for a policewoman to inquire what they were doing and although she accepted that barbara was not protesting, she decided that steve was. he refused to give his details when asked, as the officer had not adequately explained why she needed them. she also asked them to both move on without stating what law required them to do so.
as both barbara and steve had recently had a meeting at charing cross station with senior officers chief inspector robinson and superintendent terry, they referred her to them and suggested she contact her station to verify steve's details.
the policewoman then told steve that he would be arrested, and although he offered no resistance, she decided she was going to try to handcuff him. he was not happy about this - feeling that holding a banner with quotations on it is clearly not an arrestable offence, and certainly not one requiring handcuffs. while remaining calm and passive, steve tried to avoid being handcuffed. by now, two more police cars had arrived, and along with armed motorcycle police, the officers violently attacked both steve and barbara, and in front of a horrified crowd of passers-by, they struggled to handcuff steve, and pushed barbara against the hard metal railings of downing street with her arm twisted behind her back.
this journalist was obstructed from taking photographs and video by several officers despite loudly reminding them of their code of conduct towards journalists. i guess the only explanation is they were trying to hide what they were doing.
barbara was taken in a police car to charing cross police station at 5.45pm, and steve was taken in a van shortly after.
steve remained outside the station for some time with his hands handcuffed tightly behind him. after a while, he was transferred to another van, and was held in this state without processing or charge for more than an hour, during which time he heard screams of pain coming from barbara tucker in the police station.
near 7.30, he was finally taken into the custody suite for processing, but extraordinarily, after all this, the police refused to charge him for anything, instead, telling him that he would be 'reported' to the crown prosecution service for possible summons for an 'unauthorised protest' under section 132. he pointed out that the law refers to demonstration not protest, but they wouldn't even change their wording - it seems highly unlikely he will hear any more about this. barbara meanwhile was interviewed, after being charged with assaulting first one officer, and then later a second. there were no charges about any protest, and she was finally released near midnight on bail to return next saturday. she expects cctv footage to completely exonerate her.
both activists are expected to make the fullest possible complaints about the police action today. steve's treatment in the vans amounted to torture, and his release with no charge vindicates him completely.
they are both quite bruised, scratched and very shaken as well as being extremely angry at their treatment.
this is a ridiculous and repressive law and the police continually enforce it in an arbitrary and heavy-handed way.
sunday 9th july 2006
short video film of this sickening episode to follow later in the week
(btw, in case you're too stupid to work it out for yourself, i'm an anti-capitalist - therefore, no capitals - simple really!)
barbara's banner simply stated "peace, justice, love for all", while steve's was a plain white banner containing a quote from the magna carta - "to no-one will we sell, to no-one will we refuse or delay justice or right", and aristotle's "the only stable state is the one in which all men are equal before the law".
it was enough for a policewoman to inquire what they were doing and although she accepted that barbara was not protesting, she decided that steve was. he refused to give his details when asked, as the officer had not adequately explained why she needed them. she also asked them to both move on without stating what law required them to do so.
as both barbara and steve had recently had a meeting at charing cross station with senior officers chief inspector robinson and superintendent terry, they referred her to them and suggested she contact her station to verify steve's details.
the policewoman then told steve that he would be arrested, and although he offered no resistance, she decided she was going to try to handcuff him. he was not happy about this - feeling that holding a banner with quotations on it is clearly not an arrestable offence, and certainly not one requiring handcuffs. while remaining calm and passive, steve tried to avoid being handcuffed. by now, two more police cars had arrived, and along with armed motorcycle police, the officers violently attacked both steve and barbara, and in front of a horrified crowd of passers-by, they struggled to handcuff steve, and pushed barbara against the hard metal railings of downing street with her arm twisted behind her back.
this journalist was obstructed from taking photographs and video by several officers despite loudly reminding them of their code of conduct towards journalists. i guess the only explanation is they were trying to hide what they were doing.
barbara was taken in a police car to charing cross police station at 5.45pm, and steve was taken in a van shortly after.
steve remained outside the station for some time with his hands handcuffed tightly behind him. after a while, he was transferred to another van, and was held in this state without processing or charge for more than an hour, during which time he heard screams of pain coming from barbara tucker in the police station.
near 7.30, he was finally taken into the custody suite for processing, but extraordinarily, after all this, the police refused to charge him for anything, instead, telling him that he would be 'reported' to the crown prosecution service for possible summons for an 'unauthorised protest' under section 132. he pointed out that the law refers to demonstration not protest, but they wouldn't even change their wording - it seems highly unlikely he will hear any more about this. barbara meanwhile was interviewed, after being charged with assaulting first one officer, and then later a second. there were no charges about any protest, and she was finally released near midnight on bail to return next saturday. she expects cctv footage to completely exonerate her.
both activists are expected to make the fullest possible complaints about the police action today. steve's treatment in the vans amounted to torture, and his release with no charge vindicates him completely.
they are both quite bruised, scratched and very shaken as well as being extremely angry at their treatment.
this is a ridiculous and repressive law and the police continually enforce it in an arbitrary and heavy-handed way.
sunday 9th july 2006
short video film of this sickening episode to follow later in the week
(btw, in case you're too stupid to work it out for yourself, i'm an anti-capitalist - therefore, no capitals - simple really!)
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Out of control?
10.07.2006 05:08
Itsme
Good work!
10.07.2006 06:08
Doug.
well done
10.07.2006 11:43
Pegrine
Nice one!
10.07.2006 14:57
Jon
I am shocked...
10.07.2006 18:32
Were there no other journos or photographers present?
Seeing as this is getting to be a regular occurrence outside the gates of Downing Street, maybe it would be worth trying to persuade some representatives of the more respectable mainstream press to hang around outside Downing Street of a Sunday afternoon to see what happens...?
Keep up the good work Rikki, the world needs to know about these disgraceful incidents.
Simon
power to the people.
10.07.2006 20:20
power to the people.
Shocked?
11.07.2006 03:42
Itsme
more legal stuff
11.07.2006 14:45
the police often ask for details, but they do not yet have blanket right to be given them. very often, if you say that they will have to arrest you in order to get the details they will back off, as unless you have truly done something arrestable, the paperwork and the possible legal repurcussions are enough to discourage them.
it's more important than ever to know your rights. especially as the police continually prove that they often DON'T know your rights themselves and so overstep their powers.
rikki
Get these photos into secondary schools.
11.07.2006 15:38
THESE PHOTOS, AND THE VIDEO (is there one?) OF THE BRUTAL POLICE ATTACK, NEED TO BE GOT INTO AS MANY SECONDARY SCHOOLS AS POSSIBLE.
The very best time, of course, would be if any police visits to a school were planned. Activist pupils can then demand a statement from the visiting policepeople that they condemn the police actions shown. This, of course, they won't do under any circumstances, allowing the correct conclusion to be drawn, namely the policeforce of the UK is merely a unity of uniformed thugs, obeying Blair's every command.
Now I have triggered the red-alert sirens of Blair's embedded agents here. They can attempt to tolerate many things in the name of pretending to be anti-Blair, but the one thing they CANNOT sit back and allow is any practical method for weakening the grip of Blair's police state.
Blair did not give a damn about any aspect of the 'adult' anti-war movement (well, he already had the control of that movement well in hand), BUT HE COULD NOT ALLOW UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE THE PARTICIPATION OF PEOPLE CURRENTLY OF SCHOOL AGE. When a monster fears a thing so publicly, you damned well better know that a genuine vunerability has been discovered.
In this age of computer printing, it is very easy to create photographic materials for distribution. Those of you that have kids in school can demand of the head that no member of the police force is allowed to have anything to do with your children's classes unless those people first issue a written statement disassociating themselves with the actions shown above.
Steve Jago, and Barbara Tucker take it on the chin. In making greater use of their actions to roll back the evil progress of Blair, people do not have to risk such actions happening to themselves. Instead, images clearly showing the state abuse of these two people become some of the very best weapons possible at this time against Blair.
Understand this. Schools are already having debates on state clampdowns of protest in the UK, but these are on BLAIR'S TERMS, using images of 'extremist' muslim slogans. Blair's New Reich propaganda currently floods your schools. Images showing Blair's thugs attacking the fundamental right to peaceful protest in this nation of ours will ruin years of carefully crafted racist, pro-war, pro-policestate propaganda that vomits from BBC's Newsround and Radio One 'news' broadcasts, in the direction of young people.
One day soon, the kids currently at school will be Blair's cannon fodder, and Blair will have the absolute power required to exterminate all attempts to oppose him. These are the dying embers of the last fire that will ever warm our souls, if we refuse to act now to rekindle the flame of decency, fairness, hope, and justice. Blair's people scream loudly on places like this in one final push to buy their master a little more time, for they know that there always comes a tipping point with such evil monsters, after which ALL HOPE IS LOST.
Please consider the stories of the great monsters of history, and understand that for each of them there came a point in time where afterwards, only their death removed them from power. Once Blair begins his GENOCIDE of Iran, he becomes absolute dictator of the UK. No vestigial democratic mechanism will ever be able to dislodge him.
If you hate the idea of violent or aggressive activism, here is your opportunity to show that by using the most effective peaceful protest possible, exposing the next generation to the truth about the evil that this generation has allowed to gather such extraordinary power. Blair has lost most of his 'active' support, but gets by perfectly well on 'passive' support. It is this 'passive' support that needs to be destroyed.
Passive support is built carefully by Blair's goons using such memes as "support our boys in Afghanistan", "remember 7/7", and "the police have a hard time fighting all these muslim 'extremists' ". The memes are mostly reinforced by the absolute control of the mass media in the UK. When Blair's security services used their tiny 'muslim' cell of patsies to produce provacative placards, photos of these slogans covered multiple pages in all the major newspapers. Even a microscope won't find coverage of Brain Haw, Steve Jago, Babara Tucker etc, except in the 10% of papers like The Guardian dedicated to flavouring extremist pro-war propaganda with the 'sugar' of liberal-friendly comment (for Guardian readers, a spoon full of sugar allows the most vile of Blair's medicine to slip down the throat un-noticed).
If Blair's press won't show it, Blair fears it. If we see it, no good has been done, for we, by our very interests, seek out such information anyway (again, hence The Guardian). The images MUST be shown to people that would not normally see such things. The biggest and most powerful group in this category is young people.
twilight
You've taken that too far, Twi't
11.07.2006 19:43
That is silly, you are mistaking the puppet with the play. Blair doesn't have any chance of becoming absolute dictator, anymore than he is just now anyway. You are making the mistake of focussing on personalities and thus obscurring the arguments. Blair will undoubtedly be replaced with a similar self-enriching smiling public-school snake-charmer, but it is the power of the state and corporations which are strengthened through his war-mongering. The real limits of power of the UK state was amply and humiliatingly exposed when they were forced to abandon the ERM on 'Black Wednesday' ('black' as in 'black-ashamed').
Dan
SHORT FILM OF THIS INCIDENT NOW ONLINE
13.07.2006 00:09
rikki